FREELANCE JOURNALIST

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You don’t have to like the New York Yankees, but how can you not respect Mariano Rivera?

He has spent nearly one-half of his life beating everyone in sight — with one pitch, a cutter. Rivera pitched 19 major league seasons and recorded more saves than anyone in MLB (652). Rivera led the Yankees march to the World Series seven times (winning five times). He pitched in the post-season 16 times and was selected to the All-Star team 13 times … again, with one pitch.

More importantly than wins and losses or statistics, Rivera won with grace; he lost, rarely, with great dignity. After his final game in New York, No. 42 walked out to the Yankee Stadium pitchers mound one more time. He scratched at the rubber with his right foot, tipped his cap, soaked in the cheers, then he dropped to one knee and scooped up a handful of dirt before leaving the field.Rivera will leave behind his pinstripes and a trunk full of baseball memories.

His name is Olbermann, Keith Olbermann. If you’re a sports fan you already know that sports media fact. You also know Olbermann’s public and professional persona has led to some ugly name-calling. Over the years, columnists, fans and colleagues have added some colorful adjectives to describe the Olbermann brand.

He’s been labeled Acerbic. Provocateur. Erudite. Acerbic – again. Jerk. Irreverent. A-hole genius. Baby. Olbermann may dispute some of those references, but almost all reports suggest his reputation precedes him. That is a fact, one Olbermann does not deny.

The noise coming from the North is the sound of old – and new – Montreal Expos fans. On Saturday, about 1,000 baseball-hungry fans from Montreal were waving flags, drinking cold beverages and shouting from the outfield seats at Rogers Centre during the Tampa Bay Rays-Toronto Blue Jays game.

The trip was organized by Matthew Ross who owns ExposNation.com. “Our goal is to celebrate the history of the Expos and show that there is still a viable market for it,” he told the Associated Press.

If you’re going to be socially active, please consider using protection. That’s Major League Baseball’s message to players, managers and other personnel who use social media.

As part of last November’s collective bargaining agreement, MLB put a policy in effect for the 2012 season to address the use of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Every MLB team received a memo this week encouraging players, managers, coaches and team personnel to connect with fans through social media saying: